Oct 17 The Biggest Fitness Lies Women Still Believe

As a personal trainer, I’ve heard a lot of ridiculous stuff. For the most part, i either A) Do my best to educate my clients or B) just brush it off and continue on with the rest of my day. However, there is one damnable lie that gets my blood boiling every single time I hear it.

Without hesitation, within the fitness industry this is the biggest fitness lie of all:

“Women should only train with tiny, pink dumbbells to get long, lean muscles. Women should ONLY do high reps, low weight exercises. If you TOUCH a barbell or even think of using a HEAVY weight, you’ll immediately turn into a bulky manly she-beast!!”

Fitness Industry

I don’t know what’s more full of sh!t: that statement or an outhouse in the Colorado Mountains. Nothing could be further from the truth and unfortunately countless women still believe that sh!t.

First off, yes using light weight, high rep exercises DOES cause a burn in a specific muscle group. However, people incorrectly correlate the “burn” with muscle growth. Instead of focusing isolating one specific muscle group, you want to focus on compound movements. You want to train your whole body if you want to get that lean, muscular body.

Compound movements are any exercises using two or more different joints to stimulate different muscle groups. Some examples include: deadlifting, chin ups, squats, lunges, bench press, overhead press, etc.

To maximize your time and to fully realize your potential, compound movements are essential to building strength and having that toned, defined looked you always crave.

I don’t want you spend all day reading of the benefits of compound lifts (you have stuff do), but here are a few benefits I want to highlight:

More Effective than Isolation Exercises: With compound movements, you’ll be engaging and training your whole body than a specific muscle group. By focusing on compound lifts, you’ll be doing more work in less time and burning more calories too.

Better for Overall Progress: It doesn’t matter if you’re goal is to build muscle or to look good naked, compound lifts are a necessary within your program. You’re doing more work with a heavy set of 5 rep squats or deadlifts than 1000 rep glute kickbacks.

Time Efficient: Listen, you are a busy person. I get that. That’s why you don’t have time to do 3 sets of 1000 rep glute kickbacks for each leg. You cannot afford to spend 2 hours working out. By focusing on compound lifts, this will allow your workouts to be time efficient so you can get in, get out and enjoy the rest of your day.

Due to the amount of muscles being used, it’s best to do your lifts between 6-12 reps. By staying within this range, you’ll build both strength and get that muscular, lean body you been dreaming.

Also, aim to rest 60-120 seconds between sets, depending on how challenging it was. Rest periods are an often overlooked and under-appreciated aspect when it comes to making consistent progress. To learn more, click here.

By emphasizing compound movements within your program, you’ll see consistent progress, enjoy your program more, and you’ll be building a better metabolism while building muscle and improving your life outside the gym.

And don’t worry about getting bulky. You’ll get toned and defined like you’ve always wanted. Unless you start injecting testosterone, no need to worry about “bulking up” and becoming that manly she-beast. The only way you can become that is by years of consistent hard work, and being in a caloric surplus.